So scary! If you have any pepperoni Hot Pockets at home, do not eat those.
Nestle Prepared Foods is calling back more than 762,000 pounds of pepperoni Hot Pockets after consumers complained of finding pieces of glass or plastic in the product. At least one instance resulted in a minor oral injury, according to a recall notice posted on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service website.
The Kentucky-based company said it had received four complaints involving the not-ready-to-eat products, which were produced from Nov. 13, 2020, through Nov. 16, 2020. The product has a shelf life of 14 months.
Hot Pockets are a popular frozen food in America, which is one reason the recall has caused such alarm. The current batch of snacks has become so dangerous that the recall was necessary to prevent further injury by others because the pepperoni Hot Pockets “may be contaminated with extraneous materials, specifically pieces of glass and hard plastic,” the USDA said in a statement.
The company has received one report of a “minor oral injury” associated with consumption of the product, the USDA said.
The recall is for 54-ounce packages containing 12 “Nestlé Hot Pockets Brand Sandwiches: Premium Pepperoni made with pork, chicken and beef pizza garlic buttery crust.” Affected boxes have a “Best before Feb 2022″ date and lot codes of 0318544624, 0319544614, 0320544614, and 0321544614, the department said.
The boxes also have the establishment number “EST. 7721A” inside the USDA mark of inspection.
“Consumers who have purchased this product are urged not to consume it,” the USDA said. “This product should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.”
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Nestle got in trouble with a similar problem last month in December 2020. They issued a recall for their popular Lean Cuisine Baked Chicken, which was the variety with white meat chicken and stuffing. It also featured sides of red skin mashed potatoes and gravy. Those products were pulled from grocery store shelves because Nestle also feared they were contaminated with foreign objects – kind of like the same problem facing the Hot Pockets.
Five people complained of “hard white plastic” in their Lean Cuisine meal. Nestle recalled a staggering 90,000 pounds of the frozen food item because of the foreign objects in the mashed potatoes. This recall affected lot code 0246595911, which had a “best before” date of October 2021.
In this instance, the USDA believes that the foreign plastic came into the food through a broken machine at the factory. They suspect that the plastic came from a break along the conveyor belt.
The recalls from Nestle over the last two months have shattered consumer confidence in the brand. Why are the frozen food items from the foreign manufacturer being stuffed with hard plastic and sharp shards of glass? At least Nestle was able to pull these from the shelves before more people got hurt eating Hot Pockets.